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I got back, settled in and in a matter of weeks got a call from a good buddy in Canada. This was Mike, the guy I had met on the beach in Brazil all those years ago. We had stayed friends and saw each other from time to time. Mike had been working for Canadian Airlines, was leaving the company and had some airline passes that he had to use soon or he would forfeit them. He said “I have a free airline ticket to Japan for you, let’s go”.
It was a terrible time to go, I had just returned from a month trip. My money was in short
supply. I thought about it for a day and then against my better judgment agreed to go. It just felt like a sin to let that free ticket and the ability to travel again with Mike slip away. The trip was only a month away, I did some fancy footwork with some business and personal
responsibilities, suddenly I could see it all working out. It was the third week in April. I got a crazy idea to travel a week by myself in Japan and then meet Mike later
in the trip.
He was coming over with other buddies so was perfectly fine with that. I had been told that Japan was crowded, densely packed, very stressful at times. My goal was to find nature, native culture, something that was very different. I would go to the north island of Hokaido. I
studied like a maniac for a week, put a plan together and I was off from Seattle. I touched down in Tokyo and then two hours later caught a flight to Sapporo on the north island. I
landed with my Japan travel guide, I had learned about 100 Japanese words on the flight over.
I had heard that not much English was spoken in the remote parts I was going. As I got off the flight in Sapporo, I tossed my heavy pack on, my good friend back with me so soon. I hopped
on the train from the airport into central Sapporo, there are trains everywhere in Japan. The
city seemed very well organized, it was much colder than I imagined, guess I didn’t do my homework very well. I got a room at the backpacker hostel then went out to walk
the vibrant streets and get some delicious udon noodle soup in one of the tiny hole in the wall soup places that seemed to be everywhere.
I still remember ducking under the low doorway to get in, going into a cozy place, sitting with surprised businessmen and locals. The all bowed low to me with big smiles on their faces, crowded around me to see how I handled the udon with chopsticks. The soup was called Nabeyaki Udon, I love it to this day: udon noodles, veggies, big mushrooms, a bit of hot pepper, chicken and an egg cooked right on top. This was a perfect food for the cold air, my
hungry stomach and tired body. It was almost like a pub, the soup maker was the owner, everybody knew each other and wanted to know about the trip I had planned.
It was very very fun, people bought me beers and I ended up joining a group and staying 3 hours. As it reached almost midnight, I stumbled back to my hostel and passed out, early train to catch. I slept great, there actually was a real bed in this room, really the only
time I would see one on this trip, usually sleeping on traditional tatami mats with cushions on them. I was up at 7AM, the very kind hostel owner had some green tea and little biscuits for me, very sweet. I walked about half a mile in the cold air, got to the train station 30 minutes before the train was to leave, I was lucky and got a ticket.
Quickly I learned that you can get almost anything in vending machines. I saw all kinds of food: sushi, hamburgers, pastries, even beer. Wow, they trust their youth. I had also noticed so far a cleanliness and punctuality about Japanese culture. It also seemed like there was a highly developed aesthetic sense, lovely gardens were around, houses were freshly painted, people seemed quite friendly and full of smiles. Of course, there is respect, everybody bows to everybody, younger people and people of lower economic stature bow the lowest. Visitors and travelers are greeted with extremely low bows from almost everybody. It actually was amazing, the bows often almost touched the floor and were delivered in rapid succession.
I hopped on the train with fellow passengers. It was
a workday, I was leaving the city in the morning so it wasn’t very busy and that direction headed north. I had room to stretch out and it was nice, I had a 4 hour train ride ahead of me. As we pulled away from the fairly pretty city of Sapporo (which has about 2 million people), the roads started getting calmer and before I knew it, we were zipping across mostly barren countryside. It was winter and I was cold, layered the best I could. One of my fellow passengers gave me a coat to wear, I just said thanks. It was amazing during this train ride how many people came over to give me little food gifts and take photos with me.
One person, who spoke English very well, told me that hardly any Westerners travel outside of Sapporo. We zipped along, people came by to try their fairly poor English on me. I was unbelievably thankful that I had learned a bit of Japanese. Knowing that Japanese love gift giving and receiving in their culture, I had brought lots of little things to share. The land we were passing was quite barren, it looked very
much like I imagine Siberia to look like. I was headed north to the north coast of Hokkaido, a place I had no idea about. Something was calling me there.
We passed a decent sized town on the north coast called Abashiri with about 30,000 in population. I got off the rain in the next town, called Shari, about 15,000. About 50 people on the train were vested in my at this time, many of them came over to help me off at the right waving wildly when I got off the train. They were puzzled that I had plan and was just “winging” it. What I had seen so far was culturally they were “planners”. Shari, I decided it was time to hitchhike, sometimes it is fun to try your luck on the open road. I had been told that hitchhiking wasn’done in Japan, but that the Japanese had almost photographic knowledge
of American culture through movies, so would certainly know hitchhiking
I waited by the side of the cold road in the late morning, it actually was extremely cold and I had given the borrowed coat back. I was layered with three t shirts,
one long sleeve, two
vests, one which I had bought in Abashiri. A few people zipped by, most people craning their necks wildly back at me after they passed. Afterten minutes or so, a truck driver stopped to pick me up, he was to Utoro near Shiretoko National Park, exactly where I wanted to go. He
passed me some delicious rice rolls with fish, sheets of tasty nori insisted that I drink green tea out of his extra thermos. I had never had much green tea before this trip, it was great.
We rolled into Utoro, a little fishing town as far as you can go on the west side of the wild and rugged Shiretoko peninsula. My driver dropped me off, sending me more of his rice rolls. I had quickly learned that if a gift is offered, it is insulting not to accept it. I guess, when think about it, I feel the same way and have tries to incorporate in my life since then. So, Utoro is a little fishing town that swells during tourist season. The peninsula is famous for natural beauty, natural hot springs, even bears, dramatically beautiful boat rides on the coast.
It is truly like Alaska to the Japanese, drawing people from all over the country.
I had gotten there a few days before tourist season and the town was dead. I guess May 1st
is the date that things get going. I checked around a bit and couldn’t even find any place open. It was mid-afternoon, things were starting to get even colder. I badly needed a home for the night. I sat down in a little tiny café for a cup of warming tea, a woman next to me spoke English pretty well and inquired about my plans. I told her I was searching for a place to sleep, had come this way to see this most beautiful part of Japan.
She told me again that nothing was open yet, we talked for awhile and I think she got more and more interested in my journey, we got in a conversation about the indigenous Ainu people (which I had studied before my trip) and where I might find them and the remnants of their culture. She knew quite a bit about where I was going and what I was looking for, turned out she was
a teacher back in Sapporo.
She told me that it was quite amazing I had made my way to this little town, independent western travelers like me were almost unknown here. People are always touched and amazed when you find their special little part of the world. She asked me to come with her, that she wanted me to see something. I wasn’t quite sure where she was taking me but figured I had nothing to lose. On the way, she explained to me that she and her husband owned a
number of camera stores back in Sapporo and that they kept a bunkhouse/restaurant in this little town, catering mostly to people on motorcycles who visit town, quite popular among the youth in Japan. It sounded like they didn’t make much money, it was more like a hobby and just a good place for them to get away from work.
She brought me back to the little lodge restaurant, made me some tea and food and said that her husband would be back with some of his fishing buddies in an hour or so and she wanted me to speak with him. Her husband did indeed
return soon, with three of his fishing/drinking
buddies. They were surprised to see me but greeted me with huge smiles. The woman started to tell him about me, he refused to hear any of it without me having a very yummy whiskey with them. One became two and three, by then he understood my journey. They were laughing, slapping me on the back. Apparently, they had caught delicious fish and octopus and fish, and were inviting me to eat and drink with them.
I think he had had a few drinks already this day, normal I guess because they were fishing. He finally understood that I had no place to stay, he told me that the bunkhouse wasn’t open or perfectly clean yet but that I could stay there if I wanted for a few days until the tourist season
started. He told me that I would be their guest, food and drinks were on them. I agreed, making him promise to treat me as a friend, I wanted to help with the seafood and cleanup. He agreed. This was just fantastic, the lodge was Alaska like and quite nice.
As the sun went down in
the North Sea, I could see a 60 foot rock across the way that they called the Godzilla Rock. At first I couldn’t see the resemblance but after four whiskeys and at a different angle, it looked very much like Godzilla. I threw down my bags in the big bunkhouse, normally sleeping about 20 but now just me with my choice of bunks. I lay down for a few minutes, took some gifts to my hosts. They took me at my word, had me clean octopus, sea urchin and fish. We were all pitching in, we all helped cook.
Before I knew it, we were all eating and drinking around a large lodge table. His wife was with us, the wife of one of the other men was there. The friends were fantastic, interesting, speaking English reasonably well and amused at my 100 words of Japanese. The meal was out of this world, to this day the freshest seafood I have ever had. They explained to me that the meal we just had would costs many thousands of dollars in the city.
So that was it, my hosts wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. I would
stay here for a few days as their guest! With lots of bows, slaps on the back and smiles, I was off to the bunkhouse. So much had happened today, as I fell into bed, I smiled at the magic of travel. There is really nothing like it. The next morning, I had plans to get on a big tour boat to side up the coast, a four hour journey. My hostess was nice enough to make me eggs and bacon and green tea and mochi before I left.
I walked over to the marina, bought a ticket for the boat. As I walked down the dock to board, I saw the boat. It was huge, meant for 300 tourists, with a crew of 15. It was the very first day of tourist season so I was amazingly, the only person going on the boat. When things are
scheduled in Japan, they go! As we pulled out of the marina, I could see the Godzilla rock in the distance and quite a few people waving at me from the shore. The boat ride was beautiful, surreal that I was the only one on the boat. The boat crew
quickly figured out that I was pretty laid back and that this was going to be a different kind of cruise. I was invited to share morning meal with them, sitting cross-legged on the floor with these guys. They all wanted to share food with me, I was stuffed after a little while. The captain had me into the wheelhouse and let me steer the boat for a bit.
They each of course had different levels of English proficiency, none of them hesitated to try it out with me. We talked of course of my trip, but about their town, nature, travel, politics and soccer. The coastline was rugged, cliffs along it. We didn’t see any bears but there were plenty of deer, waterfalls spilling over the cliffs into the ocean. It was cold, the captain gave me a coat with the logo from the tour company and insisted that I keep it as a present. On the way back, I stood by myself on the top sun deck, cold but with the sun beaming on my face. I felt alive, a great adventure.
Four hours were gone in a flash. At the dock when I
was disembarking, many of the crew gave me low bows and I received multiple invitations to lunch and dinner. It was painful to say no, I had committed to the people I was staying with, they had lined up various friends to come by in the next few days to meet me. I walked off the boat and back to my hosts’ home. At
the risk of sounding repetitive, the next few days were more of the same. We had great food, whiskey, laughter. I went hiking, fishing, was taken around town to little shops I never noticed. I was given gifts wherever I went, little candies, notebooks.
One of the greatest joys during this time was meeting the local children. They were often in lovely school uniforms, very well-mannered and delightful to with. Some of them spoke English quite well. I had brought gifts adults and kids and actually had to pull back because there were so many people. after time, I told them I had to leave soon, more adventure lay ahead.
Every time I shared this, they either didn’t hear me or ignored me, think the latter. They
kept planning things for me for the
“next day”. I felt like I was “vacation kidnapped”. Eventually, I had to be forceful tell them that I was leaving the next day for sure.
They finally accepted that this was actually happening, planned a last night party, dinner for me with about 15 friends. I was pretty overwhelmed, filled up with love, good feelings and energy for the road. The next morning, I left this lovely couple and walked outside. They had
offered me a ride but I was in the mood to hitchhike some more. I caught a ride with a young couple in their 20s on holiday in Shiretoko National Park and driving home to Sapporo.
We had a great chat, they dropped me at the Shari train station and I sat for an hour or so to catch the next train headed east. If I were an anomaly, now it was even more so. It was a normal workday, workers and school kids got on the train, many of them looking at me in shock as if they had seen an alien. They were sweet with big smiles, but couldn’t stop staring at me and by big backpack. Sometimes, a few
words of the native language works wonders.
People started to interact with me and were quite helpful as we got into the sizable industrial town of Kushiro, 180K people. I made one connection, then took another train headed southwest, I had an idea that looked possible on my map, we would see. After about four
stops, I saw the stop I wanted to get off at. As the train stopped, I got off with a few other passengers, conductor, fellow passengers and employees on the train yelling to me to
not get off. I was resolute, walked away from the train down a road on my map.
I later determined that they were just being protective, they didn’t think I would find a bus to where I was going. Basically, they were saying “dude, don’t get off in the middle of nowhere”. There protective culture of hospitality saw this as an abomination. What they didn’t understand was my resiliency. I walked about 3 miles, got to a junction where cars were coming by. I was aiming for an amazing windswept cape area called Erimo-misaki, famous for strong winds, seaweed cultivation, seals and natural After a
few minutes of waiting, a trucker picked me up and drove about 20 miles.
My next ride was with an eccentric fashion designer who lived in Los Angeles for awhile. He was outlandish in his clothing color, driving his light blue Mercedes incredibly fast on the roads out to the Cape. I think he would have driven that was without me but he certainly wanted to show me what the car could do. Just fantastic, I was race car driving in remote Japan with a hilarious fashion designer. We stopped at the actual Cape, it was indeed windy, large amounts of seals down below. We walked out to the observation area, looking out to open
sea. The seaweed cultivation stretched as far as I could see, that seemed to be the main industry here besides some Japanese tourists.
It is so funny, I was often in these places taking photos of nature while the locals were taking photos of me. After a nice walk around this little town, my Mercedes driver took me to the edge of town where I would have a better chance to get a ride. There was a bus but I was
having too much fun hitchhiking to give that up. Every driver who picked me up followed the same pattern. Again, it is important to remember that hitchhiking is almost unknown in their
culture but they know it from American movies.
It was early afternoon, had warmed up quite a bit from the north coast. My next ride was an eccentric middle aged woman in a little economy car. Her car was packed head to toe with little stuffed animals, it was obviously her obsession. I somehow found room for me and my bag, she spoke almost no English but smiled constantly for the next two hours. Everything about her made me smile, her little car and life, although simple, were filled with cuteness.
I was headed to an area known to have remnants of the original Ainu indigenous Japanese culture. As the day waned, the woman dropped me along the main road in a little town called Tomikawa. I walked down into the town, found a little tatami room inn just off the road. I knocked on the door, feeling exhausted from my day. I wasn’t sure anyone was there, finally a tiny sweet woman (the
innkeeper) opened the door, bowing numerous times low, low to the ground to me. I returned the bow, asked her if I could get a room for the night.
She told me that she was almost full but maybe had one room. She came back, told me that she would give me a suite sized room for the price of a normal one,$38. Although that was more than I had paid so far, it was a great deal for Japan. She graciously escorted me to my room, insisting on taking my big bag and doing it with surprising strength. Before I knew it, she ushered me into an extremely lovely room looking out on a little pond and some gardens.
This was an inn that mostly business travelers stayed in, guys in sharp suits were in rooms on either side of me. I guess this was my first time seeing a tatami room. They are just
lovely, designed around the dimensions of the very tight weave tatami mats that cover every inch of the floor. Room are designed around tatami mats, not the reverse. The bathroom was spotless and had shower in the toilet area, quite
common in Japan. The main room was gracious, fresh flowers, a small bench on a deck outside. The owner gestured strongly for me to sit on some mats, she brought me tea and biscuits, rice and fish without even asking.
She pulled a lovely mat out and prepared my bed for the night, quickly leaving after she was done to give me privacy. I relaxed for a little while, went out and took a stroll along a little
river in this peaceful town. It was getting dark, I walked back to the hotel and was greeted by some businessmen staying in the next room over. They called me into their room with big smiles and handshakes, you can imagine what happened next. They had all kinds of food, beers and put it all in front of me. We shared a great meal together, they were traveling from Sapporo to Kushiro for business and stopped here for the night.
They said I had picked a good place and wondered how I found it. I told them about my journey so far and where I was headed. Great night, to bed by midnight. The next morning, I went
out to the road and hitchhiked about 30 miles to Nibutani, a town with an Ainu museum and it was said that most of the 500 people who live here are of Ainu descent. I got into the little town, saw the excellent museum of Ainu culture. Around me, I saw people with different features of what I had come to this of as Japanese. There people weren’t pure Ainu, but the difference was noticeable. Pure Ainu people look like Eskimos, the museum had preserved many artifacts from their ancient culture.
The museum made clear that for hundreds of years, they had been persecuted, driven away and slaughtered. I walked into a little store, the older woman running it was about 75 and at least half Ainu. She sat me down, held my hands in hers. Her English was not bad, she gave me a gift of some tea of course and CDs of traditional Ainu music and thanked me for
taking the time to learn a bit about their culture. There is apparently now a law to protect Ainu culture, which was only passed in 1998, too little way too late. For years, the Japanese government had
put forth that they were a homogeneous culture. It wasn’t true, an excuse to assimilate others and ruin culture. It was an eye opening visit.
There was heaviness in the people I met here but some optimism about the future. More and more Japanese were coming to visit, which allowed the Ainu to have more money to preserve their culture. As is always the case around the world, the main worry was that the youth migrate to cities to make more money and lose their connection to their heritage and the desire to pass it on, often diluting their bloodline farther by marrying.
I hopped on a bus mid-afternoon and got a connection on a bus going across the southern
coast and directly into Sapporo. I had hoped to check into the hostel I stayed in when I got here. I took a little catnap and before I knew it woke up in bustling Sapporo. It seemed a bit warmer than last week when I was through, maybe I was just more comfortable with this place. The hostel was on the other side of town, a guy at the bus station gave me a ride to
that area. I opened the door, they smiled and remembered me and found me a room.
I felt home, understanding so much about Hokkaido, I had seen incredible parts of it and met fantastic people already. That night I watched a movie in the hostel with other travelers, mostly all Japanese from Honshu, the big south island of Japan that holds much of the population. They gave me some pointers about where I was going. I walked out about 9PM into the night air, craving some more of that udon soup I had when I first got here. I found that these little soup places are everywhere, somehow I found the one I had been to last week.
Another great meal, home to sleep. I would spend one more day and night in Sapporo, I was excited to see what they would bring. I was up the next morning and walked all over the city. I liked it, the people seemed friendly. It seemed prosperous, relaxed, some of the architecture was interesting. Gardens and trees seemed to grow pretty well here, milder climate than the north coast. It was still cold, just not as cold. I
wandered for a couple of hours,then found myself on a bustling street corner. I looked up and there I met Andrew Dowling, an Aussie teaching English and living in Japan.
I liked his vibe, we talked for a few minutes and made plans to connect later. He told me we would walk around and see a bit of this city, have dinner together. I got back, chilled for a couple hours then headed out to meet Andrew. He was a cool cat, a disciple of transcendental meditation, a lover and appreciator of all things. I had noticed that sushi places were very
expensive, he took me to a local place that was fun and reasonable. We walked along parks, seeing protestors and speakers along the way.
It was easy being with him, he taught me some things about this town, even explaining that “love hotels” aren’t seedy places, just often places for people who are still living with their parents (as people often do into their 30s) to have private time with their sweethearts. Andrew
had a way of looking at everything with amazing joy, he pointed out tattoos, cool spiky hair, street art and layers of things that would not be seen by the normal eye. I have always been called joyous and optimistic, I instantly felt a soul brother in this way with him. At times in life, I even find myself thinking “What would Andrew do or think”? I can only hope I touch people in that way. To bring out the good, to focus on joy, to find beauty in all things, isn’t that life?
I sadly said goodbye to this lad, headed off to bed with a morning flight from Sapporo airport to catch. I slept well, felt really great about the trip so far. In the morning, I caught a cab to the airport and got to the plane with plenty of time to spare. There were more Westerners on
this flight than when I came in, maybe I was just more aware of them. The 1 ½ hour flight touched down in Tokyo/Narita airport, I caught a bus headed into the middle of massive, vibrant Tokyo. I had made arrangements to meet my Canadian buddies near there.
They met me at the bus station, Mike and a couple buddies of his, including a guy named Anthony I really liked. They cracked big smiles and said “come with me”. Within minutes, we were in a crowded British pub surrounded by Westerners, most of them residents of Tokyo. Anthony had been a teacher here years ago and seemed to know everyone. This was going to be fun. After a few beers, we took the subway to his ex-girlfriend’s father’s house.
The plan was for us to spend the night there. We were welcomed by the gracious family, given
rooms, food and looked after well. I had been welcomed in many places this trip already but having a personal connection like this was great. I got to see the way a real Japanese home worked, the guys and I went out to a local neighborhood pub that night and met some more friends. We had a fairly mellow night, told the guys about my journey so far. They seemed pretty amused, especially the Japanese guys when I spoke of hitchhiking.
We played cards later in the evening and then turned in to bed about 11PM. The next morning I was woken by delicious smells from the kitchen. Our hosts cooked us an amazing breakfast of eggs, mochi, strips of nori, rice, bacon, toast and juice. We had a really nice visit, I got to tell my Hokkaido story one more time. We went with the family to see some lovely botanical gardens nearby, local temples and sights. We drove by Tokyo Disneyland, a huge place. From there, we got on the subway and headed over to the house of a Japanese buddy of my new Canadian friend Anthony. We were going to spend the next night here.
That afternoon, we spent exploring central Tokyo, quite an amazing place. It was great to be with locals who knew all the little spots. One of the things that stayed with me so strongly from Tokyo was that right next to ultra-modern architecture and crazy erotic street art, you often find an ancient, peaceful Shinto shrine. We saw a lot in a short time, then the guys took us out for the night to the very fun Rippongi area, famous for music, pubs and people watching.
My new buddy Anthony the Canadian used to work in this part of town, teaching near here and tending bar. Even though this was over 7 years before, he seemed to know everyone. There seemed to be people from all over the world here, all working in Tokyo. We had a great night, seeing the youth of Tokyo, music and pubs on a weekend night. For now, it was sleep time. The next morning, my buddies and I hopped on a bus, a bit tired and hung over. Anthony’s ex-girlfriend had made arrangements for us to go down to an onsen (or hot springs resort) just across the lake from Mount Fuji.
It was a very expensive place but she had gotten some kind of discount for our group of 4 guys. The bus ride down was about 3 hours and very pretty. Mount Fuji is one of those places you see in photos your whole life. You think you are going to understand it, but to see that perfect cone come into view was truly breathtaking. The lake, the mountain, seen so much
in paintings for many years. And now, I was here. We made our way around the lake and to our little hot springs resort. We got settled, it was the end of cherry blossom season and there were some beautiful ones on the trees still. It was just perfect.
The resort itself was amazing. We had a huge cozy room, loads of food and drink that we had brought. The hot springs were fed in naturally into soaking tubs, one men, a women, one co-ed. We put on Japanese robes and soaked, relaxed and played cards most of the next two days. After a couple days, the guys wanted me to come back to Tokyo to another party
they were having. I, however, had more tricks up my sleeve.
I had a couple more days of this trip left and I was yearning to set out on my own again. I told the guys I was going to hitchhike 6 hours to Kyoto. They looked at me and said “yeah, right” and “nobody hitchhikes the freeway to there”. I said goodbye to them in Fuji town, they looked at me like I was a little crazy and gave me big hugs. The roads were small from the Fuji area back to the freeway, about 45 minutes drive. I got rides pretty easily, including a great one from a professional soccer coach.
He explained to me the way the freeway worked, that there were rest stops every 10 miles or so. I caught a ride on the on ramp that lasted for about 2 hours. It worked pretty well, at the rest stop I met a businessman for another two hours. At the last stop, I met a young couple on their honeymoon who took me into Kyoto and to a little youth hostel I had heard about. Kyoto, I was here only for two days but I would make the most of it. My luck was so good, the place had one room left, on the ground floor. It was dark outside, I couldn’t see much of Kyoto but I would the next day.
I threw my pack down and unpacked my bag with my door open. I was shocked when this huge 6’6 guy stuck his head in my door and said hello. He was a jovial Moroccan student of advanced martial arts here for a couple years to perfect his art. I am not joking, he was wearing a white robe and pointed shoes like you might imagine on Aladdin or a genie. He
looked at me, heard a bit about my crazy journey, cackled with laughter. He said “you will come out with me tonight, we leave in 10 minutes”. I was in no position to resist, sounded really fun actually.
So this guy and his other huge Moroccan friend knocked at my door, stuffed me in a tiny car that was humorously small for two giants like them and zoomed off. I was suddenly in the middle of a huge pack of foreigners who all seemed to know each other. I went out to eat, then to an African live music show at a venue called “Bar, Isn’t It”. Inside of this place was the most international group of people I had ever seen, I counted people from 25 countries.
It was amazing, Kyoto seemed to be a gathering place for all kinds of people. The fact that I had fallen into this group was fantastic, my hitchhiking stories seemed to give me some street cred. The show lasted late, I ended up in someone’s apartment for a drum circle house party (five Senegalese guys drumming) until late in the night, I should have felt tired but I didn’t. The drumming lasted all night, all of us went down to a lovely local river and watched the sun come up. I finally said goodbye to these guys and went back and slept for five hours in my room.
This country continued to amaze me, there were surprises around every corner. This day when I woke up, I resolved to avoid people and just be with myself as I wandered this very special place. I set out to walk the many gardens, sand gardens, the amazing Path of Philosophy. Kyoto was of course the ancient Capitol of Japan. I saw very old Kyoto houses, walked for many miles, wrote in my journal, enjoyed the last gasp of the cherry blossoms.
I was mostly successful in my goal of having an alone day, except for the many smiles from people along my path. I just tried not to make them into conversations. This town had an energy about it, ancient, creative and peaceful. I could see why there were people from all over the world here. I knew that my time here was short, but I was so thankful that I was able to visit at all. Sometimes, even a short visit will get a place in your pores. In a happy and contented daze, I wandered back toward my room, stopped for some great sashimi and miso soup.
I slept very well, woke early and got a ride over to the train station. It was time to take the famous high speed train, the Shinkasen. I was standing on the platform, the amazing train pulled quickly into the station. I got on, soon was cruising effortlessly at 200MPH. The
technology was fantastic, the ride very comfortable, why these don’t exist all over the United
States, I don’t know.
The world looks different at this fast of a speed. In 1 ½ hours, we made it back to Tokyo, absolutely incredible. I caught another train to Narita airport, said goodbye to this most
amazing country and was in the air and touching down in Seattle soon. Thank you Japan, for an excellent trip, great memories and personal growth.
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